"Jules Watson has conjured up the mythic past, a
land of Celtic legend and stark grandeur. Readers
will find her world and characters fascinating and
unforgettable." -Sharon Penman, bestselling author of Devil's Brood

HISTORY

From an early age I was obsessed with Celtic myths, lifestyle
and religion. One archaeology degree later, and I had added knowledge
about their history to the mix.

Celts: I should make it clear that
scholars don’t like using this term. The people the Greeks called
Keltoi lived in West Central Europe around 500 BC, but strictly
speaking, it can’t be used for any other peoples. The inhabitants
of Great Britain and Ireland did not see themselves as one
people. They consisted of many tribes with their own names. Those from
modern-day France the Romans called Galli, later Gauls. The root
words for “Keltoi” and “Galli” might come from the native tongues of
those peoples, but we don’t know. Romans used the term Britons for
those in the UK, which probably also derives from a native word, and
later spoke of the Picts (pictii) and Scots (scotti) in Scotland.

We
don’t know if the peoples we call Celts in Gaul were related to
those in Britain, or the British to the Irish. Modern DNA studies
suggest that the bulk of people in the UK and Ireland have bloodlines
going back to the Mesolithic hunters who colonized the islands after
the ice ages. In other words, they got there ten thousand years ago and
stayed put, without mass invasions of Celtic warriors from
elsewhere. (The exceptions are areas subject to Norse or Saxon
settlement, which do show different gene markers.)

However,
there is a similarity of art styles and probably language across
swathes of Western Europe from 500 BC. Also, Roman and Greek writers
state that there were similarities of lifestyle, religion and customs
between the Gauls, Irish and British. Many scholars think that ideas,
fashions and language moved across Europe, rather than invaders.

So…for
ease of use, I DO use the term Celts and Celtic to refer to the tribes
who lived in Great Britain, Ireland and Gaul, and who were swept up in
the expansion of the Roman Empire.

Deciding on a novel…or two…

The ruins of the Roman 'Hadrian's Wall" in the UK

For
my first trilogy, I looked at the major events in “Celtic”
history. The Celts enter written history via the Greeks, but their
great enemy was Rome and its expanding borders. Celtic tribes sacked
Rome around 390 BC. Later, of course, they were on the retreat, with
people like Julius Caesar conquering Gaul, and Emperor Claudius
Britain, in AD 43.

The time when the Romans, entrenched in what is now
England, pushed north into Scotland soon caught my eye. I had always
loved Scotland since I first visited, I had family connections there,
and few people set prehistoric books there.

Most
importantly, focusing on the Romans invading Scotland gave me some
wonderful baddies; some brave goodies (the Scots defending their land);
and a great deal of battle and bloodshed. It created danger and forced
partings for my characters, and I could also explore the greater themes
of freedom and sacrifice.

Of the many invasions, the
first push by the Roman governor Agricola was the most interesting, as
it culminated in a great battle with the Scottish tribes. The famous
Roman historian Tacitus was also Agricola’s son-in-law, and after the
governor's death, Tacitus wrote about Agricola’s campaigns in
Scotland. So that gave me a small amount of fact to go with my fiction.